Clothes-line stretcher and fastener



J. H. STEEN. Clothes-Line Stretcher and Fastener.

No. 226,367. Patented April 6, 1880.

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fizzesk, wavy 7- FFICEO PATENT JAMES H. STEEN, OF SALEM, OHIO.

CLOTHES-LINE STRETCHER AND FASTENER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 226,367, dated April 6, 1880. Application filed February 6, 1880.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES HARRIs STEEN, of Salem, in the county of Oolumbiana and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Clothes-Line Stretchers and Fasteners, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to devices for tightening and holding clothes-lines.

The objects of my said invention are to produce a clothes-line stretching device simple and cheap in construction, the main conception having been directed to the simplest and most effective device for taking up the slack of a clothes-line and holding it taut. l attain these objects by the device hereinafter described, and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which- I Figure 1 represents the line holding and stretching device; Fig. 2, a section thereof, and Fig. 3 the parts detached.

A journal-stud, a, for the stretching device proper, projects from a plate, I), with which it is cast, and said plate is fastened to a post, 0, a fence, wall, or other object, by screws or otherwise. Cast with this plate, and projecting from it in positions with proper relation to the stud which carries said winding device, are a bearing, (7, for the pawl e and a stoppin, f, therefor. The bearing (1 should have a rivet-head to keep the pawl. The pawl is overbalancin g, or adapted to engage by its own weight. Revoluble upon this stud a is the stretching .or tightening spool, consisting of a winding-cylinder, g, and disk-heads h i, the head It being formed integral with the winding-crank 7c, and the head 2 having an integral ratchet hollow trunnion, l, for engagement with the pawl above described. The head It has a notch, m, the function of which will be presently described.

This stretching and tightening spool, consisting of the parts just described, is cast in one piece, embracing all the said parts. This spool is held inplace by a spring-key, a, or other lock that will not fall out in turning.

In winding the cord or line, whether hempen cord or metallic, a knot is made, as at p, in the cord r, and the cord laid in the notch in the disk and then wound, the knot acting as the fasteningpoint, in connection with the ratchet and pawl, and thus the knot-holding notch m holds the line taut after the slack is taken up by the spool.

I do not generally intend to wind on the spool more than from one to three feet of line; but by making the knot at any point in a line one hundred feet long, with the winding-post fifty feet from the line-fastening source, my invention is designed to stretch the line to such point.

I am aware that the broad combination of a winding-reel upon a stud with a ratchet and pawl is not new with me, the said windingreel being capable of removal with the wound line; and I do not claim such invention, but only my specific construction, as set forth in the following claim.

It is important to have the .notch min the circumference of the head It, in order that the line may be looped over and into said notch at any point at which a knot is made in said line, thus giving the advantage of having only a tightening device for the line, and not a winding device for the whole line.

I claim In clothes-line stretchers wherein are combined a stretching-reel, a ratchet, and a holding-pawl, the casting consisting of the hub g, the disk h, having the crank 70, the circumferential notch m, and the disk 1', having the ratchet l, the said casting being secured in place by the key a, as shown, and for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 27th day of January, A. D. 1880.

JAMES HARRIS STEEN.

Witnesses:

DENNIs WEIss, HENRY (l. J owns. 

